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Material : Painted Plaster
Width : 27 . 5 Height : 32
Period : ROMAN PERIOD
Made of painted plaster , this mask dates back to the Roman Period (mid-2nd century AD) . A great corpus of portraits painted on wood known as the "Fayum portraits" and plaster masks was made during the Roman imperial era . The Roman taste had a particular interest in making portraits that stand for iconographic realism . Such a tendency became the most successful expression of the reciprocal penetration of Egyptian and Roman cultures that were far more integrated in death than in life . While plaster masks were placed on the mummy over the area of the face , portraits were either placed among the bandages wrapping the deceased's mummy or on the linen shrouds .
The face shows in detail the most expressive facial features of a man . The face is framed with the curly hair over the head as well as the trimmed beard and mustache . A scarf (and no longer the Pharaonic wig) encircles the man's neck . Decorated with stripes , a frieze of copra holding the solar disc , botanical patterns , and an ornament of the solar disc (at the back of the neck) , this scarf worked as a substitute of the triple wigs previously applied to the statues of the earlier pharaohs . Realistically portrayed , the man's outlined eyes are large with a sharp gaze .
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